PIEBALD VS PANDA COLORS IN THE GERMAN SHEPHERDS
Hopefully this helps explain the differences between both pandas and piebalds in German shepherds, today lets just walk through the differences and similarities of these two patterns in our awesome German shepherds. If you want to know more about them individually, Even though there have been studies that clearly prove that panda and piebald are NOT in any shape or form the same thing or related in any way, most posts you see on the Panda German shepherds still say that they are piebald... Or vice versa calling piebald dogs panda. So let's talk about how to tell if a dog is piebald or panda! here's a quick summary about both of these patterns.
PIEBALDS:
Piebald is a recessive pattern located on the S locus. All piebald dogs are sp sp. Piebald causes a dog to lose pigment on parts of it's body resulting white covering 50% or more of the dog's body. It's also common for piebald dogs to have cow-like splotches of normal pigment on their bodies. As piebald deletes pigment, if located in the correct spot, piebald dogs can have blue eyes or pink noses, skin. All piebald puppies are born pure white (where they lack pigment. The normal pigmented fur and skin is not white), but some dogs develop ticking as they age. Ticking can be light with just a few dots of normal pigment or heavy with a muddied appearance.
Piebald is a pretty safe color to breed, but if a dog is born with pigment loss in their inner ear, they are deaf. So piebald dogs with excessive white on their heads or ears specifically, shouldn't be bred to other piebald carriers. If a piebald dog has sun exposed, pink skin, they have higher chances of developing skin cancer.
Piebald is common in many dog breeds like Siberian huskies, Pomeranian's, German Shorthair pointers, Newfoundlands, jack Russel terriers, Ibizan hounds, Australian cattle dogs just to name a few.
Piebald has been present in German shepherds since the beginning of the breed.
PANDAS:
Panda is a dominant pattern that first appeared in the year 2000 from a mutation. Panda is located on the KIT gene, or the CD117 gene. Currently panda dogs are written down as N/P (non panda dogs would be N/N). No double panda dogs can be born as they get absorbed in the womb. Panda causes loss of pigment on the dog's legs, chest, neck, head, tail. Panda dogs will never have any white on their backs. If located in a correct spot, panda dogs can have blue eyes, pink skin, noses. Panda dogs are also born with pure white fur, but can develop ticking as they age.
Pandas rarely lose pigment on their ears or past that point so the chances of a deaf puppy being born are really low. It can happen if the dog loses pigment in their inner ear just like with piebalds though. Panda dogs with sun exposed pink skin also have a higher chance of developing skin cancer. Panda to panda breeding's are not advised as the double panda puppies are absorbed in the womb. And the odds of producing double panda puppies are 25% in a panda to panda litter, so it's like losing 1/4 of the litter before they're born.
Panda is only present in German shepherds and no other breed.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PIEBALDS AND PANDAS:
Hopefully this helps explain the differences between both pandas and piebalds in German shepherds, today lets just walk through the differences and similarities of these two patterns in our awesome German shepherds. If you want to know more about them individually, Even though there have been studies that clearly prove that panda and piebald are NOT in any shape or form the same thing or related in any way, most posts you see on the Panda German shepherds still say that they are piebald... Or vice versa calling piebald dogs panda. So let's talk about how to tell if a dog is piebald or panda! here's a quick summary about both of these patterns.
PIEBALDS:
Piebald is a recessive pattern located on the S locus. All piebald dogs are sp sp. Piebald causes a dog to lose pigment on parts of it's body resulting white covering 50% or more of the dog's body. It's also common for piebald dogs to have cow-like splotches of normal pigment on their bodies. As piebald deletes pigment, if located in the correct spot, piebald dogs can have blue eyes or pink noses, skin. All piebald puppies are born pure white (where they lack pigment. The normal pigmented fur and skin is not white), but some dogs develop ticking as they age. Ticking can be light with just a few dots of normal pigment or heavy with a muddied appearance.
Piebald is a pretty safe color to breed, but if a dog is born with pigment loss in their inner ear, they are deaf. So piebald dogs with excessive white on their heads or ears specifically, shouldn't be bred to other piebald carriers. If a piebald dog has sun exposed, pink skin, they have higher chances of developing skin cancer.
Piebald is common in many dog breeds like Siberian huskies, Pomeranian's, German Shorthair pointers, Newfoundlands, jack Russel terriers, Ibizan hounds, Australian cattle dogs just to name a few.
Piebald has been present in German shepherds since the beginning of the breed.
PANDAS:
Panda is a dominant pattern that first appeared in the year 2000 from a mutation. Panda is located on the KIT gene, or the CD117 gene. Currently panda dogs are written down as N/P (non panda dogs would be N/N). No double panda dogs can be born as they get absorbed in the womb. Panda causes loss of pigment on the dog's legs, chest, neck, head, tail. Panda dogs will never have any white on their backs. If located in a correct spot, panda dogs can have blue eyes, pink skin, noses. Panda dogs are also born with pure white fur, but can develop ticking as they age.
Pandas rarely lose pigment on their ears or past that point so the chances of a deaf puppy being born are really low. It can happen if the dog loses pigment in their inner ear just like with piebalds though. Panda dogs with sun exposed pink skin also have a higher chance of developing skin cancer. Panda to panda breeding's are not advised as the double panda puppies are absorbed in the womb. And the odds of producing double panda puppies are 25% in a panda to panda litter, so it's like losing 1/4 of the litter before they're born.
Panda is only present in German shepherds and no other breed.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PIEBALDS AND PANDAS:
- Piebald dogs can and do have white on their backs. Panda dogs cannot have any white on their backs.
- Piebald dogs will always have 50% or more white on their bodies. Even the lightest of pandas won't be even near to the amount of white as pied's.
- Piebald is a recessive gene so it can pop up in a litter from standard color parents. Panda is a dominant gene so it can not be carried without being expressed. A panda puppy comes from at least 1 panda parent.
- Piebald is typically asymmetrical. Panda is typically symmetrical.
- Piebald dogs should always have a white tipped tail. Only some pandas have a white tipped tail.
- Piebald pattern dogs are found in many different breeds. Panda pattern dogs are found only in German shepherds.
- Piebald is present in German shepherds since the beginning of the breed. Panda is present in German shepherds since the year 2000 as then the mutation first occurred.
- Both piebalds and pandas tend to have a similar looking white line on their muzzles or half white faces.
- Both piebalds and pandas can have blue eyes or pink skin in the non-pigmented spots.
- Both piebalds and pandas can have ticking.
- Both piebalds and pandas occur naturally in the German shepherd breed.
- Both piebalds and pandas can be of any color and pattern.
- Both piebald and panda is a non-standard color in German shepherds.